Which C.S. Lewis work is a 1942 Christian allegory featuring a demon named Screwtape?

The Screwtape Letters is the 1942 C.S. Lewis Christian allegory featuring the demon Screwtape.

The book takes the form of letters written by Screwtape, a senior demon, to his inexperienced nephew Wormwood. The correspondence offers advice about tempting a human patient, allowing Lewis to discuss moral weakness, distraction, pride, fear, and spiritual discipline from an intentionally reversed perspective.

Lewis wrote the work during the Second World War, and the letters first appeared in the Anglican newspaper The Guardian. The unusual format made complex religious and psychological ideas accessible while also creating comic and satirical effects.

The reader never receives the patient’s letters directly, so the human situation must be reconstructed from Screwtape’s responses. Lewis later wrote a short concluding piece, “Screwtape Proposes a Toast,” which was published separately before being included in some editions. The book is an allegory, not a claim that its fictional correspondence is historical evidence.